Autumn Jobs

A lovely Autumn day and so the Head Gardener decided to plant out wallflowers  she has grown from seed (which is why they are small and she says she has no great hopes for them!) 

Meanwhile I started to attack the fallen tree at the end of the 'long bed' all the time looking at the second tree which is in 'suspended animation'!

So, 4 extension leads for my electric chainsaw and I set to sawing up the first tree to fall.

Even though the tree has been dead for a long time, it's still heavy and there's still a lot to cut up!

An Ill Wind

 The recent storm 'Barbara' didn't affect us too much ... except it precipitated an old tree in the Alley finally succumbing.  It fell across the alley but was being held up by trees on the other side.  So I had a little job of cutting it down and chopping it up.  (We used the trunk to extend the 'bed' along the alley)

But yesterday, whilst we were out visiting a friend, there must have been a stormy shower with winds and this morning we discovered another tree which came from the same root-stock was now down!

 

As you can see there is a third tree 'hung up' waiting to fall, but I'll try to deal with the one that's already down first!

However, this job is on the back-boiler as we have spent the day planting bulbs ... 750 daffodils.  But, thanks to a tool which we saw on one of the many gardening videos we watch, we were able to plant all in one day!  You can see it in action on this video!

https://youtu.be/1_cwArTKpYE 

 We have planted 100 bulbs around each of our Purple Sycamores ...

... and then a further 450 along the bank of the alley.

We have realised these days that, as our soil is so stony, it is difficult to plant the bulbs at any depth and, with the extremely dry summers we now have, the bulbs do not prosper.  We treat them almost as annuals.  If we get a second year's display that is a bonus!

The weather forecast is dry again tomorrow so we will be out there planting tulips, alliums and Asiatic lillies and we will keep our fingers crossed for a lovely Spring show.

Whatever next!

 One day the Head Gardener was walking around the garden thinking ... (which is never a good sign!) when she decided that, big as the garden was, she needed more.  Where could she find another area for a garden?  Then inspiration struck.  The Jardin d'Ille, the small garden the other side of the village where a rudimentary garden had been created to celebrate the twinning of St Germain with St Germain sur Ille in Brittany.

Enthused, the Head Gardener, with the assistance of the Under Gardener, collected various plants out of the garden at Mas de Bouye and set off to create 3 small areas of future interest.

The plants were laid out and then expertly planted whilst the Under Gardener weeded and prepared the other 2 small areas.

A morning's work successfully completed!

We need to cover the small beds with compost from the Recycling centre but we ran out of time on the day!  We will keep you updated in the Spring!

It's All Monty's Fault

 I have told you that we have been having "a rethink" with regard to the garden mostly with a view to reducing the need for watering during the inferno months of July and August.

Well we ignored that when we saw Gardeners World a few weeks ago and we both chorused "love that idea". Adam Frost was touring an enormous private garden in Yorkshire (I don't think they have temperatures of  +40C in Yorkshire) and they had planted two long parallel drifts of the same variety of a white and green hosta separated by a low complementary grass.  (Episode 26 )

Never ones to let the grass grow under our feet I immediately started scouring the internet for suitable hostas. I stumbled upon a specialist nursery in Holland (Fransen Hostas) who were having a sale. As we needed 40 plants the sale price swung it. I duly composed the order and much to our surprise found that we could not pay by bank card. Apparently they are a small independent nursery so we had to arrange an international bank transfer and wait for it to be cleared before the plants were dispatched. What a palava!! However when the hostas arrived yesterday we could see immediately that it was worth it. Their quality was superb and we couldn't believe how carefully they had been packed. Each moist plant was individually wrapped in two sheets of paper and then slipped into a plastic bag with a label.

We spent the rest of the afternoon planting our yellow and green hostas (they didn't have any white and green ones in the sale).  The colour didn't really matter as we planned to use a rampant yellow and green carex which we already had as the adjacent contrast.

The planting was relatively quick as John has bought a new gizmo to create planting holes. It is a large drill bit which attaches to an electric drill......also discovered on the internet. We originally bought it as we have 2000 bulbs to plant, less than last year! We are thinking of applying for the European Agency as it works phenomenally well!!

When we had finished John said "I thought that the woodland bed was to be small and not be extended every year until it reaches the end of the alley,"......I couldn't possibly comment.

Now all we need is a 25Kg sack of slug pellets!!!

Community Spirit

 You may recall that we have become involved with a group in the village whose aim is to brighten the village with plants and flowers. The Commune plants seasonal bedding in a number of containers but they are not prepared to fund any additional planting. For the first season, the summer of 2018, members of the group grew plants and the project got under way on frugal lines. As is the norm in these sort of things the initial enthusiasm waned and it was left to a small core to fund the scheme. It was decided that this system was not sustainable so we decided to ask local inhabitants if they would like to donate bulbs, pansies etc. for next Spring's display. John printed posters and it was announced on the Mairie's Blog. The committee assembled in the market square on Sunday morning to await the hoards of donations!! To be honest I was totally skeptical and thought that it was a complete waste of time......but, ever been had. A steady stream of villagers came all morning bringing their contributions. The correspondent from the local paper called to photograph us all with the collection of bulbs and plants. A newspaper article is a great way to thank everyone and publicise the project.

This photograph was taken before several trays of pansies arrived.

One little girl brought some bulbs and specifically asked if she could help with the planting in her half term holiday. We have even inspired the next generation which is great.

Is It Cannabis?

 

No, he is cutting seeds but they are the ones for the prairie. He has had to divide "n" packets of seeds into 80 approximately equal quantities.He has chosen a bizzar way to do it (in my opinion). However it is his project and I am just waiting for the meadow to blossom!! In the past I have thrown countless spare seeds in the grass but they have never germinated. I must admit that I have never done it the proper way like John is doing, i.e. scraping the grass away to reveal bare earth and sow the seed into these "seed beds".

 

Lets hope he has the last laugh and we have a respectable show of wild flowers. Remember my idea last year when we planted 3600 allium bulbs which never came up, so I don't think I can say too much!!

A Window of Opportunity

 Autumn came in a rush, replacing sun and temperatures in the 30's with cooler wet weather ( nearly a frost for a couple of mornings!)  However, the grass is growing again!

Tuesday and Wednesday arrived with sunshine, providing a window of opportunity to press on with preparing the new 'White Bed Extension'

The Head Gardener was also taking advantage of the good weather to plant her 'lavender hedge', part of the changes to the 'Iris Walk'

The 'window' closed on Wednesday night and it has been tipping it down ever since ... and is forecast to continue to do so for at least the next fortnight!!!